


Rebirth

by cupidty11



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Batman: The Killing Joke (Comics)
Genre: Gen, M/M, The Killing Joke, first time writing for this fandom so sorry aaa, joker/jack pov
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-10
Updated: 2017-11-10
Packaged: 2019-01-31 08:10:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,746
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12677886
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cupidty11/pseuds/cupidty11
Summary: There was a creature.--Jack died. Something else was born.--How Jack turned into The Joker. Or at least the beginning of it.





	Rebirth

There was a creature.

It was huge, looming out from the shadows, rushing forward on wings of black. It’s eyes tinted red and glowing with some internal fire.

It was coming for him.

Jack’s heart was beating in his ears, so fast he was sure it would explode. Beating fast with sheer terror, the certainty that this was his punishment for having dared dream of riches at the cost of his morals. And yet...Jack knew his own fear and anxiety. It was a near constant companion, had always been. And there was something else in his heartbeat, something just as quick, just as all consuming.

But, it wasn’t like he could call 'time-out' and try and decode his own emotions. Terror easily outweighed anything else now. Even as something deep and dark inside his soul recognized the demon before him. It spoke and he couldn’t even think, couldn’t understand what it said.

Jack took a step backwards for every one the beast took towards him. It felt choreographed, a distant voice observed.

“St-stay back!” He shouted, barely recognizing his voice as it sounded high pitched and echoing in his ears, bounced around by the metal canister over his head. Jack clambered backwards, pressing his body against the railing.

And the sound it made as it snapped under his weight sounded like the cracking of a lever to release a guillotine, to drop the floor out from under a noose. And like the gallows or the guillotine, he fell.

The monster lunged for him, yelling. To kill him? To save him? It didn’t matter because the acid had him then. Through the red, through the burning liquid, he saw the beast as it hovered above, claws stretched out like it might still grab him. It’s silhouette was all he saw before the pain truly hit. Fire licking through clothes and slipping under his hood. It’s visage was seared on the inside of his eyelids.

Jack curled in on himself, trying desperately to swim, to live. To go back to the way it was before. Jeanie. His child. His suffocating job here, the hostile crowds of the comedy clubs. Except there was no going back. It was gone. All gone. And his will to live faltered just enough for something deep below to grab him. It circled his ankle and yanked him further downward, deeper into the caustic slurry.

He could hear someone screaming. Knew it was probably him. But, all he could focus on was the agony as acid enveloped him, his skin, flooded inside his mask until all he could see was red. Until all he could taste was bleach and even his lungs were full of chemicals. The acid ate away at everything he was, his self consciousness, his sadness and anxiety. It eroded away his empathy, his self preservation. It dissolved the soft, edge-less parts of himself that let people walk all over him.

It Pulled him deeper and deeper into a darkness he had only ever glimpsed. And the chemical bath felt like a baptizing in fire even as his heart struggled, his lungs seized for air. Darkness winked, bursting with red and white and purple. For a few moments there was nothing.

Jack died. Something else was born.

Metal squeezed his body, acid pushed it through tubes until he was emptied into mud and freezing air. The corpse lay for several minutes until there was a sudden explosion of heart beats, blood pumping, nerves coming to life. He gasped, wheezing and afraid to move his body because it hurt so badly.

Mindlessly he hacked and coughed, vomiting viscous fluid until his lungs took in icy oxygen as it seeped through whatever covered his face. It finally allowed him to open his blurry, burning eyes for the first time and note, unthinkingly, the image burned into his retinas; A BAT, a creature of darkness and death.

Blind instinct pushed him to move, to get to safety. He crawled through filth, until he was on semi solid ground. Everything burned. He groaned and it sounded so odd, so far away. He couldn’t see properly. Slippery, numb fingers weakly pulled at the canister on his head.

He swallowed and tasted sulfur.

The hood trembled in his hands, there was a large crack right up the center. He dropped it into the muck and caught a glimpse of someone. Someone.

Oh.

There was a creature.

It was white and blood and green and it was scarred with harsh burns all tinged in RED. It’s features were too large; eyes, mouth all big and strange, inhuman. It hit him hard. Like being punched in the gut. All the air left him as he realized that the creature was himself. He wheezed and touched the cracked reflection. It distorted his already messed up visage like that of a fun house mirror.

He remembered, somehow despite everything, that he liked funhouses.

Something inside him responded and resonated. It was ridiculous. This was ridiculous. His hands were white and long, trembling violently. He swallowed, couldn’t breathe properly and he coughed until more of the same horrible green sludge splattered on the ground. He closed his eyes and could see a giant bat creature.  He was lost, alone, unsure, waking up in some kind of...chemical dump or something. And it was like something out of a nightmare, a bizarre dream. Unreal.

A bubble of hilarity rose in him. His mouth seemed to obey something outside of himself. It curled and widened and he yanked at his hair and stared up at the pure blackness that was the sky, sans any stars. He tried to make a sound, to test if he still could and all that came out was a breathless wheeze. He tried again and this time the noise that came from him was a awful hysterical giggle. When it worked, it was like a flood, of relief and hysteria. He laughed and laughed until his stomach hurt but it was still barely a shadow to his lungs or skin or eyes or even his mouth. Thick hot drops ran down his face.

It felt...good. Right. It took his mind away from the sheer agony that was still his flesh and insides. Laughter filled his chest and belly, shaking him with the force of it. The sound echoed off the flat sky, giving away the illusion. This was fake. It had to be fake. It couldn’t be real. It made no sense. He had the sudden, reverberating thought that he was the only real thing in the universe.

Who was he? Where was he? Did it matter? He stopped staring up at the blank sky. Instead, trying to see if there was anything else around. Chemical run off, poison. Swirling oil slicks. Garbage. Animal corpses. A slurry of death.

Further off there was a big, bright city. It was probably what made it so there was no stars. Light and pollution. The buildings blinked and sparkled like glitter. Even from here he could hear the sounds of traffic, sirens, honks and the buzzing of electricity.

An invisible cord inside his gut, yanked. Reminding him of something important. He shut his eyes to try and remember. Only one thing was obvious. The beast flashed before his eyes and some distant part of him knew that base human instinct demand he be afraid of this THING. This monster with claws and pupil-less eyes, bat wings and oozing darkness. But, the acid had eaten away at his fear.

His heart though, the heart he had been ignoring so easily in favor of torment, began to beat so hard that for a second he thought he was dying. Again. Again? But, he was alive. Right? Or was this afterlife? He had no answer. So he didn’t try because it didn’t matter. Instead, he just laughed and clutched at his chest where the beating of his heart filled him with heady warmth. He could...remember this. Only this.The only clue as to why he was here. A monster made of darkness, it dripped with malice and shadows. Stalked towards him with an unnatural stillness and grace, an aura of controlled rage.

And suddenly, inexplicably he KNEW. It was like a great revelation, an epiphany of the highest degree. Like unlocking the mystery of the universe, like a higher power placing it directly in his mind;

If there was any thing or one out there that could understand him, the Bat would be it.

It was the monster that had driven him to death and compelled him back to life. It had given him a glorious rebirth. He had no idea what his life had been before now, or if it had been at all. He knew that he should probably be dead. Just by taste and smell, he somehow knew (how?? Didn’t matter) the chemicals around him were fatal. Yet, he breathed and felt. He LIVED.

Why? For the Bat. Obviously, _obviously_ for the Bat. What else could it be?

He glanced back up at the empty darkness of the sky and received answers from the ether; The Bat was alone, isolated. He needed a coil, a shadow, a reflection, something to push him when he faltered, someone to remind him of why he did what he did, someone to tempt and tease and taunt him. He needed a other half, the other side of his soul.

The enormity and simplicity struck him deep, making him gasp. The acid may have eaten away at many things, but love was certainly not one of them if the sheer amount of it suddenly filling his body was any indication. It was the first thing that felt real since he’d woken. And he KNEW that it would only grow and get better, larger, fuller over time though it seemed impossible.

He swallowed, tasted ammonia and blood.

“Love at first sight.” He wheezed and then laughed until his throat was sore.

There was still more to all this. There was still that insistent tugging in his middle, the itching in his hands and legs. He needed to find out how to best get to the Bat, how to draw his attention. He needed to learn how to live.

But, first. Get the hell out of this dump. He stood on shaky legs. It took a few tries to properly walk but soon he began to stumble his way towards the bright lights of the city.


End file.
